Trolley frog and crossing.



F. J. VENNING. TROLLEY FROG AND onossme.

APPLICATION TILED APR. 15, 1908. 91 4,207, Patentd Man-2, 1909.

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F. J. VENNING. TROLLEY FROG AND CROSSING. APPLIOATION FILED APR.15, 190a.

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Patented Mar. 2, 1909.

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F. J. VENNING. TROLLEY FROG AND GROSSING. APPLICATION FILED APR. 15, 1908.

9 1 4:, Patented Mar. 2, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

awwemlfoz FJA Q/vitn woes and overhead 40 use of the frog.

50 my wearing plate, Fig. 2 is rarrnn r FRANK r. VENNING, or rrrrseono, PENNSYLVANIA.

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Specification 05 Letters Patent.

Patented March 2, 1909.

Application filed Apri115,1908. Serial no. 42?,170.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, FRANK J. Vnnnmo, a citizen of the United States'of America, residin at Pittsburg, in the county ofAllegheny tate. of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trolley Frogs and Crossings, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to trolley frogs and crossings, and more particularly to wearing plates designed for right and left hand frogs, three-way frogs, adjustable and insulated frogs, draw-bridge frogs, and that type of construction ordinarily employed for guiding a trolley Wheel at the intersection or crossing of trolley wires.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a wearing plate the: can beeasily and quickly attached to a frog to increase the use or longevity of the same.

Another object of this invention is, to provide an attachment for frogs that will receive the wear and tear of the trolley wheel, and

prev out the frog from being injured.

, My invention aims to obviate the necessity of continuously renewing frogs in connection with the overhead construction of a street railway, it being a well known fact that the endurance of the-present type of frogs is of but a short period of time, andthat considerable time, labor and money is expended in the maintenance of work. It is with this fact in view'that I have devised the-wearing plate forming the subject matter of this application, the plate being designed to relieve the frog of the wearto which the latter is ordinarily subjected, and thus materially increase With the above and other objects in view which will more readily appear as the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts to be presently described and then'specifically pointed out in the appended claims. In the drawin s:Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of ale t hand frog equipped with a longitudinal sectional view of the same, taken on the line y'y of 5, looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 3 is a plan of a left hand w aring plate, 4 is a plan of a right hand w. caring plate, Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the frog as shown in Fig. 1 with the wearing plateatoverhead construction the longevity and tached thereto. Fig. 6-is a cross sectional 1 view taken on the line m-x of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 7 is a bot tom plan. of a crossover, which can be of the insulated type, Fi 8 is an elevation of the same, Fig. 9 is a pan of a wearing plate designed for a crossover, Fig. 10 is a plan of a similar plate designed for an adjustable crossover, and Fig. 11 is a bottom plan of an adjustable crossover equipped with my wearin plate.

The irog shown in connection with my improvement is of an ordinary type and comprises a body portion 1, having main tongues or runways 2, 2*? at opposite ends, the wider end of the frog also having a switch tongue or runway 3. j The frog body is provided on which taper oii toward each end and terminate in the different tongues or runways as clearly shown by reference to Figs. 5 and 6. These tongues or runways have the trolley or conductor wire 5' secured thereto in any I desired manner, as by soldering inthe runways or tongues, or by nuts (not shown) engaging the split threaded studs 6 carried by l the tongues; or runways.

The body 1 of the frog is provided with pull-off rings 7, towhich are attached cables 8 for supportin the frog overhead. The ,frog 'ust descri ed is of a form generally used iy electric railways, and reference will now be had to my frog to revent the same from the wear and tear i nt runway. ortong'ue to another.

My attachment. comprises what I terr n a wearing plate '9, whi his" shaped to lit the under face of the pan or body of the frog and lie between the depending side flanges 10 of said frog body, thls plate extending to the ends of the pan or body, where its ends provide logs that bend upwardly and rearwardly upon the ends and upper face of the pan or body, as at engagement with the frpg.

sufficient to insure considerable use of the same.

the action of the wheel flanges, an in order 'rnent, which is used in connection with they 11,.to retain said plate inv The plate 9 is constructed of strong and durable metal having we aring 'qu alifications In order that the wearing plate can ro-vv tect that portion of the frogs sub'ecte to attachment or improvee travel of a trolley wheel from one I plate before the same is worn or cut by the anges of the trolley wheel passing over the v cured to the frog, I form the-same wit bior insulated crossing,

connection with this crossing (see Fig. 7) is wearing plate 19 in engagement with said crossing.

that the plate can be easily and quickl sefurcated ends or extensions 12, adapted toextend along the runways or tongues to the ends of the frog, where the extensions are clenched upon the ends of the frog, as previously described.

The wearing plate just described is de-' signed for right or left hand frogs or can be used in connection with a V-frog, and reference will now be had .to Figs. 5 to 9 inclusive, wherein'I have illustrated a wearing plate particularly designed for fixed, adjustable or insulated crossings. The crossing illustrated in Figs. .5 and 6 comprises a circular. body or -pan 13 having diametrically opposed runways or tongues'14 and a central pin 15. The wearing plate which I use in circular and is provided with a circular open.- ing 16 to clear the pin 15 and is cut away as at. 17, to clear the runways or tongues 14. The wearing plate is provided with radially disposed lugs 18, adapted to be bent u wardly and over the edges of the pan or body 13, similar to the ends ofthe-extensions12, of the plate 9.

In Fig. 8. of the drawings I have illustrated a wearingplate 19 provided with a plurality of radially disposed lugs 18, this wearing plate being particularly designed for an adjustable such as illustrated in Fig. 9 of the-drawings. Irrespective of the angularity of the tongues or runways, some of the lugs 18 can be employed for holding the crossing, and the lugs that are not used for holding the late can be out off or left to aline with t e tongues or runways of the.

It is apparent thatI have devised anovel wearing plate for the present type of fro s and that said late can be. easily and quickly attached to a 0g, even though the-latter has already been installed. This is a desideratum in-connectionwith' the maintenance of overhead construction, asgconsiderable time is consumed and delay in trafiic incurred in i installing a new fro Another characteristic of my invention is the simple and economical construction which permits of the wearing plates being produced at a comparatively small cost.

The invention as'above described is susceptible to such structural changes as are permissible by the appended claims.

' Having now described my invention what I=claim as new, is

1. The combination with a frog having a pan and runways, of a metallic wearing plate detachably mounted upon said frog, said wearing late havingextensions ada ted to extend a ongsaid runways and be ant to engage the ends of said frog.

2. The combination with a crossing, of a metallic wearing plate detachably mounted thereon, said plate having lugs adapted to be bentupwardly and upon said crossing, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a frog, of a me tallic wearing plate detachably connected thereto, and means carried by said plate for fastening the same to said frog.

4. i As a new article of manufacture, a metallic wearing plate shaped to fit within a frog pan and having an incut at each end providing tongues to afford means for scour-- ing the plate to the frog pan.

. 5. In combination with a frog having a pan, a wearing late detachably secured to the underneath ace of the pan.

6. In combination with a frog having-a pan, a'metallic wearing plate fitted against the underneath face of the pan and having arms at its end adapted to be bent over against the upper face of said pan.

'7. In combination with an overhead frog having-a pan, a wearing plate shaped to fit against the underneath face of the pan, and means at the ends of said plate for detachably securing the same to the frog pan.

In testimony whereof I afiix,my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

MAX H. SRoLovrTz, K. BUTLER. 

